Armored tire.



0. W. LEVALLEY.

ARMORED TIRE.

AP'ILIGATION FILED NOV. 30, 1908.

Patented Jan. 12, 1915.

,2 SEEETS-SHEET 1."

G. W. LEVALLEY.

ARMORED-TIRB. APPLICATION numnov. 30, 1908. v 1,124,753. I PatentedJan-12,1915.

2-SHBETS-SHEET 2.

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Application flied November 39,1908. Seria No.465,26d.

To all whom it paging concern Be it known that I, CHRISTOPHER W. LE-VALLEY, a citi ien'of the United States, and residing at Milwaukee. inthe county of Milwaukee, State of Wisconsin, have invented new anduseful Improvements in and Relating to Armored Tires, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invent oiirelates' to pneumatic tires,

and it has fares object to produce a tire provided with an armored treadsurface v iirality of detachable and interlocking Sections or linksadapted to protect the tire from puncture or injury.

Figure l isaside elevation of a section of a tire enibodyiilg' myinvention. Fig '2 is a transverse section on the' line 2-2 Fig. 3 is aplan yiew of oneof the sections of the armor. Fig. 4 is a side Viewthereof. Fig. 5 is an end view thereof; F ig. .6 is a longitudinalseption of two sections coupled together. Fig. is a view of two linksshown in position to be separated one" from the other. F is a plan Viewof another Y form of one ortl' 'e armor sections.

In the drawings A indicates the armor adapted to surround and engagewith the tread portion of a pneumatic tire B, The armor consists of aseries oi: connected articulating and dptachable links or seetio'ns noform a chain-like struc 2, united togethe ture.

so as to be substantially parallel adjacent portion. of the circle.formed he periphery of the tire when inflated, as shown in Figs. 1', fand 6, and each plate is also transversely curred, "as represented inFigs. 2 and? t the sides of the plate 3 of each section there are formedlongitudinally arranged depending sides 4,4,an'd at of the plate thereare formed the depending ends '6, 6', the ends of the sections beingarranged to lie close together when coupled, and yet permitting thenecessary amount of freedom for articulation between the sections. Theseends 6, 6, serve,to strengthen the link and to pre- I bent inward byreason of the blows received through the movement of the tire over theground.

7 indicates a" hook, preferably formed integral with one of thedepending ends, 6, and extending outwardly therefrom in a plane belowthe tread surface of the armor Specification of Letters .Patent.

Fig. 1. t

Thetixaad or hearing face df section is formed of a plate 3 lon'itudinally curved with {he deflated condition,

section. The tion is cut away, asshown at 8,"to' ,orin a. cross bar 9that is adapted to be engaged by the hook 7. is made long enough toengagewiththe under surface 10 of the plate'3 in order to support thatportion thereof 'wliich,-is directly above the portion of the end thatis cut away to form the cross bar 9. l

The plate 3, depending sidese, and ends 6, 6, of the section togetherform a shell,"in the under side of which isa recess 13 adapted toreceive and lie over "a, how 14.- carr ed by the tire; The bosseslaserv'e to hold the armor in integral with the longitudinally arrangedde-.,

pending sides 4,

4i These flanges .lie "on the surface of the v tire andserve as hearingfaces for; the secaans They are bent in their longitudinal "direction toconform to the general currature of the tire; In order to prevent the.armor from flexing in an outward direction, the flanges 11 at one end'of the section are cut away? ,or off-set, as shown.

at l2,'aii d at theopposite end they roject a; short dista cebeyo'nd theend of ti e shotion, as shown at 15, so as to engage with and lie.11nd,e r the cut away portion 12 pf an ad omin'g section. By this meansthe seet ons are locked and their dutward articuhgioii is limited. I

y employing a hook and cross bar as the means for detaehably uniting thesections of the armor, I am enabled to make the plane of separationbetween two adjacent spctions straight and to bring such plane Veryclose to the axis of articulation, thereby permitting me to maintain thesections in close relation to each other under all conditions of use.

The armor is placed upon the tire in its and the tire is then pumped upuntil the armor is tightly bound thereon. .Any one of the sections maybe detached from the others and a new one re placed. and the armor maybe disconnected couple without being moved laterallyor out The outerend? of the hook proper position on the tire and prevent it fromcreeping or slipping opposite end, 6 oft e sec each section,

- end thereo of line with each other, but when brought into workinpositiomwhere they are held by the inflation ofthe tire, againstsegaratiom. As has already been "described, e unitary sections of thearmor are locked or held against flexing, in an in-' ward direction,beyond their -properwork-4 izag positions, b the engagement of theextensions 15 wit the faces 12, and. are held from flexing in an outwarddirection to an extent sufiicient'to permit the sections beingmacoupled, by the tire itself.

What I claim is z 1, In a'pneumatic tire, the combination with the tire,of a flexible chain-like, structure formed of a series of -detachablesec tions, each section having 'a tread surface, heck Iandcross barconnecting means car ried by the sections for unitin them, olfsatportions 'at the side'edgeso i one end of the side-ed s of-the sectionat the opposite arranged to engage the off-set gportio'h's of anadjacent section to limit they are locked and projecting extensions ofthe outward flexin of the sections at their joints, substantially as setforth.

ZJThe combination with an inflatable tire, of an armor therefor, formedof unitary metallic sections, 'jointedto each other by hook and crossbar connections separable when adjacent.

k sections are turned to positions away from the tire with which thearmor is used, each section having a tread portion and longitudinal edgeflanges adapted to rest upon the tire, the said edge flanges being atoneend of each section caaisror'ura W. Laminar; v

Witnesses:

V. I. Knomnna, W. C. SARGENT.

oifset, and at the other end extended beyond the articu'

